Automatically and programmatically generating crowdsourced trailers

ABSTRACT

Automatically and programmatically generating content trailers in a crowdsourced manner is described herein. An example method operates in a media device coupled with a display device. The display device displays a graphical user interface (GUI) having a plurality of tiles each corresponding to content available for display. The GUI also includes at least one preview display area. The method operates by detecting selection of one of the tiles, and automatically and programmatically generating a trailer for content associated with the selected tile in a crowdsourced manner. Then, the trailer is played in the preview display area while the selected tile remains selected.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/806,384 titled “Automatically And ProgrammaticallyGenerating Scene Change Markers,” filed Nov. 8, 2017; and is related toU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/806,379 titled “Enhanced PlaybackBar,” filed Nov. 8, 2017, all of which are herein incorporated byreference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND Field

This disclosure is generally directed to using learning systems andartificial intelligence to enhance the user's experience when selectingand playing content, such as movies and TV shows.

Background

Roku leads the over-the-top (OTT) market with more viewers streamingmovies and TV shows on Roku devices than any other streaming device,including Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire, and Apple TV. Movies dominatethe type of video-on-demand (VOD) content viewed across all regions andgenerations. A 2016 Nielsen report found that “Eighty percent of globalrespondents who watch on-demand content say they view movies.” Rokustreams over a billion hours of video per month, a 61 percent increaseover 2016. (Bloomberg Technology, May 2017).

Data suggests that the OTT market will continue this positive trend foryears to come, but when it comes to media consumption, the industry isin a continual cycle of rapid evolution. Technology that does notcontinually adapt to the changing needs of consumers may lose acompetitive edge. With the transformation from older more traditionalforms of consumption, such as the DVD and Blu-Ray to streaming content,one often overlooked feature is the scene change marker.

Streaming video has yet to adopt the idea of the DVD/Blu-ray scenechange marker because the user can continue watching wherever they leftoff and scrub through a timeline of thumbnails. From a technology andimplementation perspective, there are barriers in automatically andprogrammatically generating scene change markers. Scene transitions orchapter breaks to this day are still input manually, so it would beimpossible to apply a manual approach to all the movies in an OTTprovider's catalog. More importantly, simple automation would not beable to capture the interest level of millions of viewers.

Other often overlooked features are the interfaces through which usersnavigate to select content for display. There are millions of movies andTV shows available via the over-the-top (OTT) market. Conventionalapproaches for displaying available content—such as scrollable, staticimage grid views—provide users with only limited help when navigatingthrough an OTT provider's immense catalog of available content to findtitles of interest.

SUMMARY

Provided herein are system, apparatus, article of manufacture, methodand/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations andsub-combinations thereof, for using learning systems to improve thepreview of content, such as but not limited to movies and TV shows.

In some embodiments, a method is directed to automatically andprogrammatically generate content trailers. The method operates in amedia device that is communicatively coupled to, for example, a displaydevice. The method can operate in other devices, such as but not limitedto a smart TV. The display device displays a graphical user interface(GUI) having a plurality of tiles each corresponding to contentavailable for display. The GUI also includes at least one previewdisplay area.

The method operates by detecting user interactions as a user navigatesthrough a movie or TV show (or other content) being presented on thedisplay device. Point values are assigned to the user interactions. Thedetected user interactions and assigned point values represent trainingdata. The training data is provided to a crowdsource server. Thecrowdsource server is configured to determine correlations and patternsin the training data to automatically and programmatically definecrowdsourced markers for the movie/TV show using, for example, machinelearning and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.

The method further operates by detecting selection of one of the tiles,and automatically and programmatically generating a trailer for contentassociated with the selected tile in a crowdsourced manner. Then, thetrailer is played in the preview display area while the tile isselected.

More specifically, the trailer is generated by identifying Lcrowdsourced markers which are consecutive in the content (associatedwith the selected tile) and have a highest combined point value. Then,the trailer is generated by concatenating video segments indicated bythe crowdsourced markers in an order corresponding to an order of thecrowdsourced markers in the content, wherein each of the video segmentsis of length P seconds, and wherein the concatenated video segments arelooped. In some embodiments, L may be 5 and P may be 5. In someembodiments, the crowdsourced markers do not include the first M and thelast N crowdsourced markers of the content, where M and N may be equalto 3 in some examples. This is to eliminate the possibility ofaccidentally adding title and credits that are usually found at thebeginning and at the end of content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The accompanying drawings are incorporated herein and form a part of thespecification.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a multimedia environment,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2A illustrates a block diagram of a media device, according to someembodiments.

FIG. 2B illustrates a remote control for use with a media device,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example graphical user interface for a televisionin a multimedia environment, according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate flowcharts for automatically andprogrammatically generating scene change markers, according to someembodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example for generating trailers (or previews) in acrowdsourced manner, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example trailer that has been programmaticallygenerated in a crowdsourced manner.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method for presenting content (suchas a movie or TV show) to a user using an enhanced playback bar, whereinthe content includes crowdsourced markers, according to someembodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example computer system useful for implementingvarious embodiments.

FIGS. 10 and 11 are example user interfaces for enabling users to selectcontent for display, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for displaying crowdsourced trailers (orpreviews) in, for example, the user interfaces of FIGS. 10 and 11,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for generating trailers (or previews) in acrowdsourced manner, according to some embodiments.

In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical orsimilar elements. Additionally, generally, the left-most digit(s) of areference number identifies the drawing in which the reference numberfirst appears.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure is directed to using learning systems to improve theplayback of content, such as but not limited to movies and TV shows.Some embodiments are directed to automatically and programmaticallygenerating scene change markers. Other embodiments are directed toenhancements for generating trailers in a crowdsourced manner. Theseembodiments are described below.

Introduction

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a multimedia environment 102,according to some embodiments. In a non-limiting example, multimediaenvironment 102 is directed to streaming media. In some embodiments, theterms “media” and “content” are used interchangeably herein.

The multimedia environment 102 may include one or more media systems 104and one or more content servers 122 communicatively coupled via anetwork 120. In various embodiments, the network 120 can include,without limitation, wired and/or wireless intranet, extranet, Internet,cellular, Bluetooth, broadcast, satellite, terrestrial, and/or any othershort range, long range, local, regional, global communications network,as well as any combination thereof.

Media system 104 may include a display device 106, media device 108 andremote control 110. Display device 106 may be a monitor, television,computer, smart phone, tablet, wearable (such as a watch), and/orprojector, to name just a few examples. Media device 108 may be astreaming media device, DVD device, Blu-Ray device, audio/video playbackdevice, cable box, and/or digital video recording device, to name just afew examples. In some embodiments, the media device 108 can be a partof, integrated with, operatively coupled to, and/or connected to displaydevice 106. The media device 108 may be configured to communicate withnetwork 120.

A user 112 may interact with media system 104 via remote control 110.Remote control 110 can be any component, part, apparatus or method forcontrolling media device 108 and/or display device 106, such as a remotecontrol, a tablet, laptop computer, smartphone, wearable device,on-screen controls, voice responsive controls, integrated controlbuttons, or any combination thereof, to name just a few examples. Anexample remote control 110 is illustrated in FIG. 2B.

Content servers 122 (also called content sources) may each includedatabases to store content 124 and metadata 126. Content 124 may includeany combination of music, videos, movies, TV shows, multimedia, images,still pictures, text, graphics, gaming applications, advertisements,software, and/or any other content or data objects in electronic form.In some embodiments, metadata 126 comprises data about content 124. Forexample, metadata 126 may include associated or ancillary informationindicating or related to writer, director, producer, composer, artist,actor, summary, chapters, production, history, year, trailers, alternateversions, related content, applications, and/or any other informationpertaining or relating to the content 124. Metadata 126 may also oralternatively include links to any such information pertaining orrelating to the content 124. Metadata 126 may also or alternativelyinclude one or more indexes of content 124, such as but not limited to atrick mode index.

The multimedia environment 102 may also include one or more crowdsourceservers 114. In some embodiments, crowdsource servers 114 each includeone or more databases 117. Databases may include a marker database 118and/or a playback bar database 119. The crowdsource servers 114 may beconfigured to communicate with network 120.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example block diagram of the media device 108,according to some embodiments. Media device 108 may include a streamingmodule 202, processing module 204, user interface module 206 anddatabase or storage 208.

Generally, in operation, user 112 may use remote control 110 (or, forexample, voice responsive controls) to interact with the user interfacemodule 206 of media device 108 to select content, such as a movie, TVshow, music, book, application, game, etc. The streaming module 202 ofmedia device 108 may request the selected content from content server(s)122 over the network 120. Content server(s) 122 may transmit therequested content to the media device 108. Media device 108 may transmitthe received content to display device 106 for presentation to user 112.The streaming module 202 in media device 108 may transmit the content todisplay device 106 in real time or near real time as it receives suchcontent from content server(s) 122. Also or alternatively, media device108 may buffer or store the content received from content server(s) 122in database 208 for later playback on display device 106.

While watching a movie or TV show (or other content) on the displaydevice 106, the user 112 may use the remote control 110 to navigatethrough the movie/TV show. For example, in some embodiments, the user112 may press the [Left] or [Right] buttons 222, the rewind button 226and/or the fast forward button 236 to display the example graphic userinterface (GUI) 302 shown in FIG. 3. It should be understood that theremay be other buttons (or combination of buttons) on the remote control110 that may result in displaying the GUI 302 on the display device 106.

GUI 302 may represent a 10-foot UI when the display device 106 is atelevision, for example. Consider the case where the user 112 iswatching a movie on the display device 106. In this case, the GUI 302may display a video still 301 of the last frame of the movie that wasbeing played when the user 112 invoked the GUI 302.

The GUI 302 may support thumbnail navigation for enabling the user 112to quickly and efficiently navigate through the movie. For example, theGUI 302 may include thumbnails such as a frame in focus 305 representinga current scene change or chapter. Other thumbnails may include one ormore previous scene change or chapter still frames 304, and one or morenext scene change or chapter still frames 307. The user 112 can useremote control 110 to scroll through or otherwise select any of thesethumbnails (that is, frames 304, 305 and 307) to quickly navigatethrough the movie.

The GUI 302 may also include a playback bar 311 (element 310 representsthe footprint of the playback bar 311). The playback bar 311 generallyrepresents a timeline of the video being presented in the display device106, and indicates the amount of the video that has been played. Theright-most point of the playback bar 311 is the CTI (current playbacktime) 312, which in the timeline of the video corresponds to the videostill 301 of the last frame played. The playback bar 311 includes scenechange markers 314 that, when positioned to the right of the CTI 312 (asshown in the example of FIG. 3), correspond to the next scene change orchapter still frames 307.

The GUI 302 may include other elements representing the state ofplayback as feedback to the user 112. For example, the GUI 302 mayindicate the CTI time 316 and the duration or time remaining 320. TheGUI 302 may also include a playback status icon 318, indicating whetherthe video is currently in chapter mode, being rewound, fast forwarded,played, paused, stopped, etc.

Automatically and Programmatically Generating Scene Change Markers

In some embodiments, scene change markers 314 within the playback bar311 are automatically and programmatically generated in a crowdsourcedmanner. Such embodiments leverage the fact that millions of people watchany given movie or TV show (or other content). These embodimentsdetermine the level of interest of viewers through learning theirinteractions, so as to programmatically generate scene change markers.

By using this approach, it is possible to generate scene change markersfor all the movies and TV shows (as well as other content) in an OTTprovider's catalog. Also, this crowdsourced approach better ensures thatthe scene change markers capture the interests of viewers. While thefollowing is described with reference to scene change markers, it shouldbe understood that this disclosure is also applicable any other markersof interest to viewers.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method 402 for automatically and programmaticallygenerating scene change markers in a crowdsourced manner, according tosome embodiments. Method 402 can be performed by processing logic thatcan comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmablelogic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executing on aprocessing device), or a combination thereof. It is to be appreciatedthat not all steps may be needed to perform the disclosure providedherein. Further, some of the steps may be performed simultaneously, orin a different order than shown in FIG. 4, as will be understood by aperson of ordinary skill in the art.

Method 402 shall be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. However,method 402 is not limited to those example embodiments.

In some embodiments, method 402 is directed to a learning system withtwo primary aspects: training data and a training algorithm.Accordingly, in step 404, training data is obtained. For example, asusers 112 watch and interact with content, the media device 108 receivesdata on user interactions. The media device 108 identifies anddistinguishes user interactions, and assigns point values to the typesof interactions detected.

For example, an interaction (called “Interaction 1” for referencepurposes) involving a user pausing the video for at least 10 seconds,and then resuming play without fast forwarding or rewinding, may have apoint value of 1.

Another interaction (called “Interaction 2” for reference purposes)involving a user playing video for at least 10 minutes after fastforwarding or rewinding through the content a single time may have apoint value of 2 points.

Still another interaction (called “Interaction 3” for referencepurposes) involving a user playing video for at least 10 minutes afterfast forwarding and rewinding through the content several times may havea point value of 4 points.

As shown by the above examples, in some embodiments, interactions areassigned point values based on the degree to which they reflect theuser's intent to locate a particular location in the content (such asthe beginning of a particular scene in a movie or TV show, for example).In the above examples, Interaction 3 is assigned a higher point valuethan Interaction 2, because fast forwarding/rewinding multiple times(per Interaction 3) indicates greater user intent to locate a particularlocation in the video, versus fast forwarding/rewinding a single time(per Interaction 2).

Similarly, pausing the video and then resuming play (per Interaction 1)may indicate some, but limited, user intent to locate a particularlocation in the content, so Interaction 1 is given a lower point valuethan either Interaction 2 or 3.

In some embodiments, each interaction has a landing frame, and the pointvalue assigned to the interaction is associated with the landing frame.For example, for Interaction 1, the landing frame is the frame in thevideo where the user paused before resuming play. For Interactions 2 and3, the landing frame is the frame where the fast forwarding/rewindingended before the user resumed playing the video.

Another example interaction (called “Interaction 4” for referencepurposes) may involve a user playing video for at least X minutes afterfast forwarding and rewinding through the content several times. Similarto Interactions 2 and 3, the landing frame for Interaction 4 is theframe where the fast forwarding/rewinding ended before the user resumedplaying the video. As will be appreciated, watching the video for 10minutes versus 5 minutes (for example) may indicate greater userinterest in the landing frame and thus merit a higher point value. Thus,the points for Interaction 4 may be a function of X, where the pointsincrease as X increases.

In some embodiments, certain interactions may have negative points. Anexample interaction (called “Interaction 5” for reference purposes) mayinvolve a user pausing the video for at least 10 seconds, and then fastforwarding or rewinding, rather than resuming play. The landing frame ofInteraction 5 is the frame where the video is paused. Fast forwarding orrewinding from this frame, rather than playing, may indicate userdisinterest in the landing frame. Accordingly, in some embodiments, thelanding frame of Interaction 5 may be assigned a negative value, such as−1.

In some embodiments, step 404 is performed locally by media devices 108.Thus, millions of media devices 108 around the world may perform step404 while their respective users watch a given movie or TV show (orother content), to detect user interactions associated with thatmovie/TV show.

These user interactions detected in step 404, and their associated pointvalues, represent training data that is input to a training algorithm(represented by step 406, which is described below). In someembodiments, a minimum amount of training data is needed for thetraining algorithm to provide acceptable accuracy, typically N number offrames across M sessions. The values of N and M may be a function of thetraining algorithm used, and may depend on the desired accuracy ofprediction. In some embodiments, the training algorithm is executed atthe crowdsource server 114.

In step 406, the training algorithm makes use of the training data tofind correlations and patterns in the data using machine learning andartificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. The algorithm reasons if thereare many users who rewind or fast forward to play frame X, andthereafter continuously play the content, then frame X is of interest toa substantial number of users. Frame X may then be designated acrowdsourced scene change marker. Accordingly, the learning system withits training algorithm is configured to expose relevant patterns andcorrelations hidden in data, and reflect user behavior related to asingle piece of content.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method 502 for automatically and programmaticallygenerating scene change markers in a crowdsourced manner, according tosome embodiments. Method 502 is an example implementation of method 402in FIG. 4. However, method 402 is not limited to the exampleimplementation of method 502.

Method 502 can be performed by processing logic that can comprisehardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic,microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executing on a processingdevice), or a combination thereof. It is to be appreciated that not allsteps may be needed to perform the disclosure provided herein. Further,some of the steps may be performed simultaneously, or in a differentorder than shown in FIG. 5, as will be understood by a person ofordinary skill in the art. Method 502 shall be described with referenceto FIGS. 1-3. However, method 502 is not limited to those exampleembodiments.

In step 504, the media device 108 tracks actions of the user 112 todetect and distinguish user interactions. Examples of these userinteractions are discussed above.

In step 506, the media device 108 assigns point values to theinteractions detected in step 504. The point values may be fixed (suchas with the example Interactions 1-3 and 5 discussed above) or variable(such as with the example Interaction 4).

In step 508, the detected interactions and assigned point values arestored in a database 208 of the media device 108. In some embodiments,the interactions and associated points are organized in the database 208by content, and by the landing frames of the interactions. For example,interactions and point values that were obtained while viewing aparticular movie are stored in records of the database 208 associatedwith that movie, and are ordered by the landing frames associated withthose interactions.

In step 510, the media device 108 periodically transmits the detectedinteractions and assigned point values from the database 208 to thecrowdsource server 114.

Steps 504-510 may be performed repeatedly by media device as users 112view and navigate through content, as indicated by the control branchfrom step 510 to step 504. Also, millions of media devices 108 aroundthe world may repeatedly perform steps 504-510 to detect userinteractions and assign point values. This training data (that is, thedetected interactions and point values) are provided to the crowdsourceserver 114 in step 510.

In step 512, the crowdsource server 114 stores the received interactionsand associated point values in the marker database 118. In someembodiments, the interactions and associated points are organized in themarker database 118 by content, and by the landing frames of theinteractions. For example, interactions and point values that wereobtained while viewing a particular movie are stored in records of themarker database 118 associated with that movie, and are ordered by thelanding frames associated with those interactions.

In step 514, for a given frame (called “Frame X” for reference purposes)of a movie or TV show (or other content), the crowdsource server 114determines if the training data associated with Frame X constitutes apattern such that Frame X should be designated as a scene change markerfor the movie/TV show, using machine learning and artificialintelligence algorithms. For example, the crowdsource server 114 may addup the points of the interactions for which Frame X is the landingframe, and then determine if this accumulated point score meets orexceeds a predetermined threshold. If the accumulated point score meetsor exceeds the predetermined threshold, then in step 516 the crowdsourceserver 114 designates Frame X as a crowdsourced scene change marker(also called a “crowdsourced marker” herein).

In some embodiments, to reduce noise and the number of crowdsourcedmarkers, the crowdsource server 114 in step 514 takes into considerationa window having a plurality of frames when calculating the accumulatedpoint score for Frame X. More specifically, in some embodiments, thecrowdsource server 114 may average N amount of interactions related tothe same scene change for a specific point in time within the movie orTV show to output a single frame that faithfully represents the scenechange. The window (for example, the value of N) may be or represent alength of time that constitutes a typical scene change. Thus, the windowmay be 3 seconds, although this disclosure is not limited to thatexample. In some embodiments, the frame being considered—that is, FrameX in the above example—is positioned at the center of the window.Accordingly, in step 514, the crowdsource server 114 adds up the pointsof the interactions for which the frames in the window are the landingframes. Then, in step 516, the crowdsource server 114 designates Frame Xas a crowdsourced marker if the accumulated point score for the windowof frames meets or exceeds the predetermined threshold.

The crowdsource server 114 may repeat steps 514 and 516 for each frameof each movie or TV show (or other content) represented in the trainingdata stored in the marker database 118. In this way, the crowdsourceserver 114 automatically and programmatically generates scene changemarkers in a crowdsourced manner, and such crowdsourced markers (shownas scene change markers 314 in the playback bar 311 of FIG. 3) enablequick and easy navigation through movies and TV shows (as well as othercontent).

FIG. 8 illustrates a method 802 for providing a movie (or other content)to a user 112, wherein the movie includes crowdsourced markers,according to some embodiments.

In step 804, media device 108 receives a request for a movie from user112.

In step 806, media device 108 requests the movie from the content server122.

In step 808, media device 108 receives the movie from the content server122. Media device 108 also receives metadata 126 corresponding to themovie. The metadata 126 may include crowdsourced markers generated asdescribed herein.

In step 810, media device 108 plays the movie to the user 112 on displaydevice 106. As described above, the user 112 may navigate through themovie using GUI 302. GUI 302 includes the playback bar 311. The playbackbar 311 includes scene change markers 314, some or all of which may becrowdsourced markers.

Automatically and Programmatically Generating Crowdsourced Trailers

In some embodiments, the crowdsourced markers discussed above may beused to automatically and programmatically generate content trailers(also sometimes called previews herein). The trailers may be used topreview content for users, for example. Because trailers comprise movingimages, they are often more useful to users when deciding whether agiven movie or TV show (or other content) is of interest, compared tostatic images.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example GUI 1002 for display on the displaydevice 106, according to some embodiments. GUI 1002 may represent a10-foot UI when the display device 106 is a television, for example.

The GUI 1002 may include a plurality of tiles 1004. Each tile 1004represents a movie or TV show (or other content) available for displayon the display device 106 from content servers 122. While 8 tiles 1004are shown in the example of FIG. 10, in practice the GUI 1002 mayinclude any number of tiles 1004.

In some embodiments, each tile 1004 includes a static image 1006. Thestatic images 1006 are representative of the content respectivelyassociated with the tiles 1004. For example, some static images 1006 maybe an image from the movie or TV show, and/or include a name or logoassociated with the movie or TV show. Because the static images 1006 arestatic, they provide only limited information about the associatedcontent. As such, static images 1006 provide users with only limitedassistance when they are trying to identify content of interest.

In some embodiments, GUI 1002 also includes a preview display area 1008.In the example of FIG. 10, the preview display area 1008 comprises most(and in some embodiments, all) of the space of GUI 1002, such that thetiles 1004 are on top of the preview display area 1008. In otherembodiments, as shown in the example of FIG. 11, the preview displayarea 1008 comprises an area in the GUI 1002 that does not overlap withthe tiles 1004, such as being above the tiles 1004. The preview displayarea 1008 is not limited to the examples shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. Forexample, the preview display area 1008 may include only a portion of thespace shown in either FIG. 10 or FIG. 11. Also or alternatively, the GUI1002 may include more than one preview display area 1008. Also oralternatively, each tile 1004 (or one or more of tiles 1004) may includea preview display area 1008.

In the examples of FIGS. 10 and 11, tile 1004B has been selected by theuser 112. Selection of tile 1004B is indicated by the cross-hatchedborder, although the selection may be indicated in other ways, such asvia different fonts, colors, illumination, etc. The user 112 may haveselected tile 1004B using remote control 110 or any other methodology,such as but not limited to voice command.

In some embodiments, a trailer corresponding to the selected tile 1004Bis displayed in the preview display area 1008. The trailer may be usedto preview the content associated with the selected tile 1004B to theuser 112. Because the trailer comprises moving images, it is often moreuseful to the user 112 when deciding whether the content associated withthe selected tile 1004B is of interest, compared to using static imagesto preview the content.

The operation just described is represented by a flowchart of a method1202 shown in FIG. 12. Method 1202 can be performed by processing logicthat can comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic,programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructionsexecuting on a processing device), or a combination thereof. It is to beappreciated that not all steps may be needed to perform the disclosureprovided herein. Further, some of the steps may be performedsimultaneously, or in a different order than shown in FIG. 12, as willbe understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. Method 1202shall be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 10 and 11. However, method1202 is not limited to those example embodiments.

In step 1204, media device 108 may detect that the user 112 has selected(that is, focused on) one of the tiles 1004 in GUI 1002. Assume, forpurposes of example and not limitation, that the media device 108detects that the user 112 has focused on tile 1004B. The media device108 may detect such operation by determining that the user 112 used theremote control 110 to focus on the tile 1004B for a predetermined amountof time. In another example, the media device 108 may receive a commandfrom the user 112 (via the remote control 110 or voice command, forexample) for the selection of tile 1004B.

In step 1206, a trailer corresponding to content of the selected tile1004 may be generated. In some embodiments, the trailer may beautomatically and programmatically generated in a crowdsourced manner.Step 1206 is described further below with reference to FIG. 13.

In step 1208, the media device 106 may display the trailer in thepreview display area 1008 of the GUI 1002, while the corresponding tile1004 is in focus. As discussed above, the preview display area 1008 maycomprise most of the space of GUI 1002 (as shown in FIG. 10), or justpart of the space of the GUI 1002 that does not overlap with the tiles1004 (as shown in FIG. 11), or any other configuration. For example, andwithout limitation, where the preview display area 1008 is within tiles1004, the trailer may be displayed within the selected tile 1004B.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flowchart of a method 1302 for automatically andprogrammatically generating trailers in a crowdsourced manner, accordingto some embodiments. Method 1302 represents the operation of step 1206,in some embodiments. Method 1302 can be performed by processing logicthat can comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic,programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructionsexecuting on a processing device), or a combination thereof. It is to beappreciated that not all steps may be needed to perform the disclosureprovided herein. Further, some of the steps may be performedsimultaneously, or in a different order than shown in FIG. 13, as willbe understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. Method 1302shall be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 6, 7, 10 and 11. However,method 1302 is not limited to those example embodiments.

The steps of method 1302 may be performed by media device 108 and/orother devices in environment 102, such as crowdsource server(s) 114,content server(s) 122, etc.

In embodiments, the content associated with the selected tile 1004Bcomprises a plurality of crowdsourced markers. Embodiments forgenerating the crowdsourced markers were discussed above. Forillustrative purposes, in the following discussion of method 1302,“crowdsourced markers” refer to the crowdsourced markers in the contentassociated with the selected tile 1004B.

In step 1304, L consecutive crowdsourced markers having the highestcombined point values may be identified (such accumulated pointvalues/scores were discussed above with reference to, for example, FIG.5). In some embodiments, the first M crowdsourced markers and the last Ncrowdsourced markers in the content associated with the selected tile1004B are not included in the operation of step 1304. This is toeliminate the possibility of accidentally adding title and credits thatare usually found at the beginning and at the end of content. In someembodiments, L is equal to 5 or 6, and both M and N are equal to 3.However, this disclosure is not limited to this example, and L, M and Ncan be any other integer values.

The operation of step 1304 shall be described with respect to an exampletimeline 604 of a movie 602 shown in FIG. 6. In this example, the movie602 is the content corresponding to the selected tile 1004B (that is,the tile currently in focus). Movie 602 has a number of crowdsourcedmarkers 610. The first M markers 610 are shown as 606 (where M is equalto 3 in this example), and the last N markers 610 are shown as 608(where N is also equal to 3 in this example).

In the example of FIG. 6, L is equal to 5. Accordingly, in step 1304, awindow 612 of length L moves over the timeline 604 starting after thebeginning markers 606 and ending just before the ending markers 608.Each marker 610 has an accumulated crowdsourced point value (asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 5). The combined point values forthe L markers 610 in each window 612 are summed. The first 3 windows612A-612C and their combined point values are shown in the example ofFIG. 6. Pursuant to step 1304, the L consecutive crowdsourced markers610 having the highest combined point values are identified in thismanner.

In step 1306, a trailer for the content associated with the selectedtile 1004B may be generated using the crowdsourced markers 610identified in step 1304. For example, in 1306, segments of the movie 602may be concatenated together, where the segments begin in the movie 602at the identified crowdsourced markers 610, and where the order of thesegments in the trailer correspond to the order of the identifiedcrowdsourced markers 610 in the movie 602.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example trailer 702 generated according to step1306, according to some embodiments. For the example in FIG. 7, it isassumed that the crowdsourced markers 610A-610E in window 612B had thehighest combined point values as determined in step 1304. Thus, in thisexample, trailer 702 is generated in step 1306, where trailer 702 hasvideo segments 704 corresponding to portions of the movie 602 that beginat the identified crowdsourced markers 610A-610E. In some embodiments,each video segment 704 is of length P. P may be 5 seconds, such that thelength of the trailer 702 is 25 seconds (it is noted that P may bevalues different than 5 seconds). In some embodiments, trailer 702 maybe looped, as indicated by 706. In some embodiments, trailer 702includes only video and does not include audio.

Because markers 610 were generated programmatically in a crowdsourcedmanner (as described above), the trailers 702 resulting from method 1302of FIG. 13 also were generated programmatically in a crowdsourcedmanner.

It is noted that the trailer 702 for any particular movie 602 (or othercontent) may change over time, as the point values for markers 610change (as described above with reference to FIG. 5).

In some embodiments, the crowdsource markers 610 associated with thetrailer 702 for a particular movie (or other content), such as markers610A-610E in the example trailer 702 of FIG. 7, may be identified bycrowdsource server 114 and stored in database 117 before operation offlowchart 1202 in FIG. 12. In fact, in some embodiments, the crowdsourcemarkers 610 associated with the trailer 702 for the contentcorresponding to some or all of the tiles 1006 in GUI 1002 (as well asother content) may be identified by crowdsource server 114 and stored indatabase 117 before operation of flowchart 1202. In some embodiments, inaddition or alternatively to displaying the trailer for the selectedtile 1004B in the preview display area 1008, the crowdsourced trailersfor some or all of the tiles 1004 in the GUI 1002 may be played in thetiles 1004 themselves (rather than having static images in the tiles1004).

In some embodiments, trailers 702 for movies and other content are notgenerated in advance, prior to their use in step 1208. Rather, trailers702 may be generated in real time and upon demand in step 1206, by usingthe identified crowdsourced markers 610 as pointers into the content, asdescribed above. Also, only the crowdsourced markers 610 correspondingto a given trailer 702 need be stored in database 117, and not the videosegments 704 constituting the trailer 702. And, crowdsourced markers 610are small in size compared to video segments 704. Accordingly,embodiments of this disclosure reduce the amount of computer storageneeded to perform the functions described herein, and thus represent animprovement of computer technology.

Example Computer System

Various embodiments and/or components therein can be implemented, forexample, using one or more computer systems, such as computer system 900shown in FIG. 9. Computer system 900 can be any computer or computingdevice capable of performing the functions described herein. Forexample, one or more computer systems 900 can be used to implement anyembodiments described herein, and/or any combination or sub-combinationthereof.

Computer system 900 includes one or more processors (also called centralprocessing units, or CPUs), such as a processor 904. Processor 904 isconnected to a communication infrastructure or bus 906.

One or more processors 904 can each be a graphics processing unit (GPU).In some embodiments, a GPU is a processor that is a specializedelectronic circuit designed to process mathematically intensiveapplications. The GPU can have a parallel structure that is efficientfor parallel processing of large blocks of data, such as mathematicallyintensive data common to computer graphics applications, images, videos,etc.

Computer system 900 also includes user input/output device(s) 903, suchas monitors, keyboards, pointing devices, etc., that communicate withcommunication infrastructure 906 through user input/output interface(s)902.

Computer system 900 also includes a main or primary memory 908, such asrandom access memory (RAM). Main memory 908 can include one or morelevels of cache. Main memory 908 has stored therein control logic (i.e.,computer software) and/or data.

Computer system 900 can also include one or more secondary storagedevices or memory 910. Secondary memory 910 can include, for example, ahard disk drive 912 and/or a removable storage device or drive 914.Removable storage drive 914 can be a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tapedrive, a compact disk drive, an optical storage device, tape backupdevice, and/or any other storage device/drive.

Removable storage drive 914 can interact with a removable storage unit918. Removable storage unit 918 includes a computer usable or readablestorage device having stored thereon computer software (control logic)and/or data. Removable storage unit 918 can be a floppy disk, magnetictape, compact disk, DVD, optical storage disk, and/any other computerdata storage device. Removable storage drive 914 reads from and/orwrites to removable storage unit 918 in a well-known manner.

According to an exemplary embodiment, secondary memory 910 can includeother means, instrumentalities or other approaches for allowing computerprograms and/or other instructions and/or data to be accessed bycomputer system 900. Such means, instrumentalities or other approachescan include, for example, a removable storage unit 922 and an interface920. Examples of the removable storage unit 922 and the interface 920can include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as thatfound in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an EPROMor PROM) and associated socket, a memory stick and USB port, a memorycard and associated memory card slot, and/or any other removable storageunit and associated interface.

Computer system 900 can further include a communication or networkinterface 924. Communication interface 924 enables computer system 900to communicate and interact with any combination of remote devices,remote networks, remote entities, etc. (individually and collectivelyreferenced by reference number 928). For example, communicationinterface 924 can allow computer system 900 to communicate with remotedevices 928 over communications path 926, which can be wired and/orwireless, and which can include any combination of LANs, WANs, theInternet, etc. Control logic and/or data can be transmitted to and fromcomputer system 900 via communication path 926.

In some embodiments, a tangible, non-transitory apparatus or article ofmanufacture comprising a tangible, non-transitory computer useable orreadable medium having control logic (software) stored thereon is alsoreferred to herein as a computer program product or program storagedevice. This includes, but is not limited to, computer system 900, mainmemory 908, secondary memory 910, and removable storage units 918 and922, as well as tangible, non-transitory articles of manufactureembodying any combination of the foregoing. Such control logic, whenexecuted by one or more data processing devices (such as computer system900), causes such data processing devices to operate as describedherein.

Based on the teachings contained in this disclosure, it will be apparentto persons skilled in the relevant art(s) how to make and useembodiments of this disclosure using data processing devices, computersystems and/or computer architectures other than that shown in FIG. 9.In particular, embodiments can operate with software, hardware, and/oroperating system implementations other than those described herein.

CONCLUSION

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and notthe Summary and Abstract sections, is intended to be used to interpretthe claims. The Summary and Abstract sections can set forth one or morebut not all exemplary embodiments as contemplated by the inventors, andthus, are not intended to limit this disclosure or the appended claimsin any way.

While this disclosure describes exemplary embodiments for exemplaryfields and applications, it should be understood that the disclosure isnot limited thereto. Other embodiments and modifications thereto arepossible, and are within the scope and spirit of this disclosure. Forexample, and without limiting the generality of this paragraph,embodiments are not limited to the software, hardware, firmware, and/orentities illustrated in the figures and/or described herein. Further,embodiments (whether or not explicitly described herein) havesignificant utility to fields and applications beyond the examplesdescribed herein.

Embodiments have been described herein with the aid of functionalbuilding blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functionsand relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of thedescription. Alternate boundaries can be defined as long as thespecified functions and relationships (or equivalents thereof) areappropriately performed. Also, alternative embodiments can performfunctional blocks, steps, operations, methods, etc. using orderingsdifferent than those described herein.

References herein to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an exampleembodiment,” or similar phrases, indicate that the embodiment describedcan include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, butevery embodiment can not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature,structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, it would be within the knowledge of persons skilled in therelevant art(s) to incorporate such feature, structure, orcharacteristic into other embodiments whether or not explicitlymentioned or described herein. Additionally, some embodiments can bedescribed using the expression “coupled” and “connected” along withtheir derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonymsfor each other. For example, some embodiments can be described using theterms “connected” and/or “coupled” to indicate that two or more elementsare in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term“coupled,” however, can also mean that two or more elements are not indirect contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interactwith each other.

The breadth and scope of this disclosure should not be limited by any ofthe above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A media device operating with a display device, the display devicedisplaying a graphical user interface (GUI) having a plurality of tileseach corresponding to content available for display, the GUI alsoincluding at least one preview display area, the media devicecomprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory andconfigured to: detect selection of one of the tiles; determine contentassociated with the selected tile comprising a plurality of crowdsourcedmarkers, wherein each crowdsourced marker indicates a point value;identify a number Greater than or equal to two of consecutivecrowdsourced markers from the content which to combine to generate atrailer for the content; identify a set of the plurality of crowdsourcedmarkers including the number of consecutive crowdsourced markers with ahighest accumulated point value relative to any other set from theplurality of crowdsourced markers from which to generate the trailer;automatically and programmatically generate the trailer for the contentassociated with the selected tile based on the identified set ofcrowdsourced markers with the highest accumulated point total; and causethe trailer to be played in the preview display area while the selectedtile remains selected.
 2. (canceled)
 3. The media device of claim 1,wherein to automatically and programmatically generate the trailer, theprocessor is configured to: form the trailer by concatenating videosegments indicated by the crowdsourced markers in an order correspondingto an order of the crowdsourced markers, wherein each of the videosegments is of length P, and wherein the concatenated video segments arelooped.
 4. The media device of claim 3, wherein to identify the set, theprocessor is configured to: evaluate the crowdsourced markers of thecontent associated with the selected tile using a window of length Lbeginning with a crowdsourced marker after M beginning crowdsourcedmarkers, and ending with a crowdsourced marker before N endingcrowdsourced markers.
 5. The media device of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is further configured to automatically and programmaticallydefine the crowdsourced markers.
 6. The media device of claim 1, whereineach of the tiles comprises a preview display area, and wherein theprocessor is further configured to: automatically and programmaticallygenerate trailers for content respectively associated with the tiles ina crowdsourced manner; and cause the trailers to be played in thecorresponding tiles.
 7. A method in a media device operating with adisplay device, the display device displaying a graphical user interface(GUI) having a plurality of tiles each corresponding to contentavailable for display, the GUI also including at least one previewdisplay area, the method comprising: detecting selection of one of thetiles; determining content associated with the selected tile comprisinga plurality of crowdsourced markers, wherein each crowdsourced markerindicates a point value; identifying a number, greater than or equal totwo, of consecutive crowdsourced markers from the content which tocombine to generate a trailer for the content; identifying a set of theplurality of crowdsourced markers including the number of consecutivecrowdsourced markers with a highest accumulated point value relative toany, other set from the plurality of crowdsourced markers from which togenerate the trailer; automatically and programmatically generating thetrailer for the content associated with the selected tile based on theidentified set of crowdsourced markers with the highest accumulatedpoint total; and causing the trailer to be played in the preview displayarea while the selected tile remains selected.
 8. (canceled)
 9. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the automatically and programmaticallygenerating comprises: forming the trailer by concatenating videosegments indicated by the crowdsourced markers in an order correspondingto an order of the crowdsourced markers, wherein each of the videosegments is of length P, and wherein the concatenated video segments arelooped.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the identifying the setcomprises: evaluating the crowdsourced markers of the content associatedwith the selected tile using a window of length L beginning with acrowdsourced marker after M beginning crowdsourced markers, and endingwith a crowdsourced marker before N ending crowdsourced markers.
 11. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising: automatically andprogrammatically defining the crowdsourced markers.
 12. The method ofclaim 7, wherein each of the tiles comprises a preview display area, themethod further comprising: automatically and programmatically generatingtrailers for content respectively associated with the tiles in acrowdsourced manner; and causing the trailers to be played in thecorresponding tiles.
 13. A non-transitory computer-readable modulehaving instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least onecomputing device, causes the at least one computing device to perform amethod comprising: detecting selection of one of a plurality of tiles,the tiles graphical user interface (GUI), wherein each of the tilescorresponds to content available for display, the GUI also including atleast one preview display area; determining content associated with theselected tile comprising a plurality of crowdsourced markers, whereineach crowdsourced marker indicates a point value; identifying a number,greater than or equal to two, of consecutive crowdsourced markers fromthe content which to combine to generate a trailer for the content;identifying a set of the plurality of crowdsourced markers including thenumber of consecutive crowdsourced markers with a highest accumulatedpoint value relative to any other set from the plurality of crowdsourcedmarkers from which to generate the trailer automatically andprogrammatically generating the trailer for the content associated withthe selected tile based on the identified set of crowdsourced markerswith the highest accumulated point total; and causing the trailer to beplayed in the preview display area while the selected tile remainsselected.
 14. (canceled)
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable moduleof claim 13, wherein the automatically and programmatically generatingcomprises: forming the trailer by concatenating video segments indicatedby the crowdsourced markers in an order corresponding to an order of thecrowdsourced markers, wherein each of the video segments is of length P,and wherein the concatenated video segments are looped.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer-readable module of claim 15, wherein theidentifying the set comprises: evaluating the crowdsourced markers ofthe content associated with the selected tile using a window of length Lbeginning with a crowdsourced marker after M beginning crowdsourcedmarkers, and ending with a crowdsourced marker before N endingcrowdsourced markers.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable module ofclaim 13, the method further comprising: automatically andprogrammatically defining the crowdsourced markers.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable module of claim 13, wherein each of thetiles comprises a preview display area, the method further comprising:automatically and programmatically generating trailers for contentrespectively associated with the tiles in a crowdsourced manner; andcausing the trailers to be played in the corresponding tiles.
 19. Themedia device of claim 3, wherein an order of segments in the trailercorresponds to an order of the identified set of consecutivecrowdsourced markers.